[Torg] Fish in water with bicycle (Four-case contradictions)

[Kansas Jim]

Benn writes:

> 1)  What does it mean that a character disconnects from his home cosm 
> while in his home cosm?  What reality is he connected to?  What are his 
> personal axioms at that time?  What can or can't he do?  Does he 

He's not connected to any reality, that's what "disconnected" means! :)

His personal axioms are the same as they've always been, those never
change unless the character is transformed to another reality. But
while disconnected he cannot express that personal reality, he must
operate under the rules of the local reality (obviously it's not going
to seem any different if he's at home.) The only real difference a
character is going to see while disconnected in his home reality is
that he cannot create contradictions.

> 2)  So in a Dominant zone, a magical elf inhabitant of Fairyland has a 
> 75% chance to pickup and use the dropped phaser?  Is that per shot or 
> per scene?  If he disconnects bu rolling a 1-4, the tech guy can still 
> take the same phaser and use it? (And as a one-case contradiction I am 
> assuming.)

Actually it's an 80% chance (1-4 = 20% chance of disconnecting) that the
elf can make the phaser work. But that is per shot so the odds are bound
to catch up with him eventually if he goes crazy with it! And yes, if
he disconnects anyone else can still pick up the phaser and attempt to
use it. Disconnection only affects the user, never the tool.

> 3)  In Fairyland, if the Starfleet officer risks a 5% chance of 
> disconnection every time they fire the phaser, odds are that in any 
> firefight they run a great chance of disconnecting at least once.  Are 
> disconnections by using your tools in another land that common?  If so, 
> I assume that reconnecting is fairly trivial.

Yes, disconnections can be fairly common. Reconnecting can be trivial,
though it depends a lot on where the character is from and where he is
when he tries to reconnect. For example, an Ayslish character in the
Nile has a DN of 8 to reconnect but he has a DN of 20 in the Living
Land. And that's assuming it's a one-case contradiction, if it's a four-
case then you have to figure in those penalties I mentioned in a
previous email.

-- 
Kansas Jim, Torg guru (ksjim (at) sdc (dot) org)
Torg website: http://www.sdc.org/~ksjim/index.html